First collection... how to separate water - Diesel Forum

ToddT · 11-08-2004, 08:42 PM

I picked up my first two drums of veggie from a caterer doing primarily fried turkeys and some fried seafood. Not bad as far as solids but I'm unsure about the water content. None of it was truly milky but the color ranged from dark brown through to light brown.

With settling and heating, will the water ever settle out with a hard break between, such as separating water and petro oil?

I have metal drum heaters (wraps around the drum) as well as a coil from a hot water pressure washer. The pressure washer coil will get 180 degrees at 7 gallons per minute. Recirculating one drum, I could heat it to 130 degrees or more in less than ten minutes but with agitation. The band type drum heater would not involve any agitation and may result in a cleaner break between phases.

I have a Parker filter cart and plenty of 10 micron elements. I'll pre-filter through a bag to get it to 25 micron, then down to 10 and I think I still have quite a few 3 micron elements left over from a hydraulic system flush project. Parker has water trap elements but they are pricey. I'd rather do a heat and separate route.

Eventually I want to get some sort of cyclonic/centrifugal separator. Suggestions?

Thanks.

Todd T

teester · 11-08-2004, 09:42 PM

Todd, I sometimes get a layer of tan on the bottom. Sometimes it has water in it from cleaning the equipment? Sometimes I think it may be animal fat possibly with water. I usually pour off the top clear layer and dispose of the tan gunk, which is where any chunky's usually hide too!

I am not currently doing bulk storage but will be as soon as I get the piping done to my 500Gal tank. I think am going to put a T with a drain valve on the bottom of the T. They say the water will settle out over time to the bottom and I will drain it off then if any accumulates. And yes, heat will facilitate faster settling, hence my drums nice flat black hue basking in the sun all day! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

Regarding the 3 micron, I think the Ford factory filter on the 6.0 only filters down to 12 micron. I use a 10 for the final and so far so good.

mannytranny · 11-08-2004, 10:15 PM

Is this for SVO or BD?

With BD there is no need to filter down that small. A t shirt will do the job fine.

SVO, I would go down to 2m.

teester · 11-08-2004, 10:55 PM

Manny, I am making BD. Todd is toying with both ideas now. Why would you filter it to 2 if ford is only filtering down to 12? Just curious. Filtering that small will cost you more and probably be much harder to filter without heating it up a whole lot.

Are you making BD or have you done both? I wondered how much I needed to filter the WVO to make BD when all impurities seem to fall to the glyc layer anyway, even flies in the ointment! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I've yet to see anything wind up in the BD, even when mixing the heck out of it in the wash cycle it falls back to the wash water!

mannytranny · 11-08-2004, 11:25 PM

I did both. I found BD very easy to make, but the transport and movement of VO to be a real *****. For this, I just used window screen as a filter before doing the reaciton. I did not even heat up to get rid of water.

I also did VO, and I filtered it with a sock filter rated to 2m, but it was mixed with diesel. I did a 50/50 mix, and then ran it through the filter. No heat, no time. The car I was doing this in needs a waterpump, and TB. Someday Ill fix it.

It is fun to do initially, but I wont reallywant to take the time to make a huge processor and all. Not to mention run it in vehicles I depend on. Ill just buy it from now on...or make it at a buddys house.